Official blog of Weekend Game Plan with Matthew Ross - a New TSN 690 Radio Program Saturdays and Sundays 7-9am. Contributions by Matthew Ross, Moe Khan, David Trentadue, & many more. (The views expressed aren't necessarily those of Bell Media). matthew@tsn690.ca. Brought to you by deadhitsports.com.

Saturday, 3 May 2014

The following is my speech from the March 29, 2014 Gala that honoured the 1994 Montreal Expos, as put on by the Montreal Baseball Project:

Bon soir. first I want to thank the Montreal Baseball Project, the Montreal Board of Trade, Ernst & Young and BCF for their tireless and ongoing efforts to bring
baseball back.

In the fall of 1993, when I was 15, the Expos finished the season
on a torrid pace, narrowly missing the promised land. It created a ripple in the
Montreal sports scene, a real curiosity. But with the Canadiens still ruling as
the reigning NHL champs, Nos Amours were still a distant second fiddle among my
peers. It wasn't cool to wear Expos hat or shirts.

And then 1994 happened. By June, it was hard to ignore the special feeling
that was beginning to grip the city. All of a sudden, not only were the Expos
cool, but they IT! Teens were staying out late and going to the Big Owe on
school nights, and the once skeptical guy next to me in homeroom now had a Larry
Walker jersey.

And then it happened, the season was gone and so too was the magic. Or was
it? 20 years later, the story of the 1994 Expos has reached mythical
proportions. They are the James Dean of baseball history, having died young and
never reaching full potential.

But out of this unfulfilled season has risen immortality. Much like the
spirit of Gary Carter, it's something that both the Montreal Baseball Project
and ExposNation have and will continue to draw on.

A full 20 years after the 94 Expos were beginning to light the fire of
sports fans in this city, if today's pre-game reaction at Olympic Stadium was
any indication, I think it's safe to say they have helped to make the game cool
again in Montreal.